#albertus

Some doodles/sketches from recently!

The first one is @xsunnysoftx's character, Dr. Kia Lockhart (I could NOT contain myself and finally went to make a sketch after staring at all the art for a hot second-), and the rest are all Undertale AU-related stuff I've got on-hand to show. the fourth is of a stimming Sparky C:

Staff Pick of the Week

This week I selected Her Six Difficulties and His Small Mistakes, six poems by Marcia Southwick, with eight relief prints by Richard Bigus, and an introduction by Stephen Tapscott, published in 1988 by Bigus’s Labyrinth Editions in Lincoln, Nebraska. The poems previously appeared in The American Poetry Review, Antioch Review, Field, Missouri Review, and Prairie Schooner, but are published here as a collection for the first time.

The eye-catching relief prints take shape through complex lattice structures. The longer you look, the more forms emerge. Parts of Tapscott’s introduction to Southwick’s poems could easily be applied to the prints. He says:

Each perception is whole but mysterious, becoming more lucid almost retrospectively as it changes to the next. The continuity of these perceptions is not linked or linear sequence but is rather the track of a spiral (a vector of progress graphed against a circling, repetitive pattern).

The relief prints were likely designed and cut in a soft material, like linoleum, and later photomechanically transferred to a magnesium plate and printed simultaneously with the text on a Universal I Vandercook proofing press.

The book was printed in an edition of 123 copies, of which our copy is one of 72 copies printed on Cambersand paper. The rest of the edition was printed on Royal Watercolor Society Cotman paper and includes a portfolio of signed prints. Both papers were handmade at the historic Hayle Mill. The fonts are 18pt. Goudy Bible and Emerson Italic cast by A. Colish, and the titling is Albertus. The binding was done at the Campbell-Logan Bindery. The decorative cover paper was made by the artist Richard Bigus who also did the design, illustration, and presswork. 

This book is the sixth publication of Richard Bigus’s Labyrinth Editions. Our copy is signed by the poet and the artist/printer and is a gift from our friend Jerry Buff.  View more posts on our Fine Press Books

View more of our Staff Picks.

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Typography Tuesday

A few weeks ago we presented some broadsides exhibiting a variety of typefaces from a collection of forty broadsides entitled Forty Sheets to the Wind, printed by Graham Moss and Kathy Whalen in 1999 to showcase the enormous collection of typefaces at their Incline Press in Oldham, England. The portfolio is part of a set of 150 copies that also includes a letterpress-printed introductory booklet.

Today we present ten more typographic broadsides from this collection. Here is some commentary on each broadside from the booklet, from top to bottom: 

Because they have enormous rumps: Derek Barlow’s rhyme is set in 24 pt Scotch italic and is accompanied by Peter Allen’s illustration of a joyful elephant.

The Cat & The Fiddle: Set in Berthold Wolpe’s 14 pt and 36 pt Albertus, with illustrations by Claud Lovat Fraser. 

To a Fish of the Brooke: Peter Pindar’s poem is set in 14 pt Cochin from M&H Type Foundry and printed on handmade Canterbury paper from Barcham Green. The illustration is an Edwardian-era commercial cut.

Tiger, tiger, burning bright, etc.: Set in 18 pt Verona type from Stephenson Blake and printed on handmade Sheepstor paper. The illustrations on the right are enlargements from Thomas Bewick’s wood engravings; the illustration on the left is an enlargement from an electroplate from Stephenson Blake.

Old Mrs. Marley:  Claud Lovat Fraser ‘s text is set in 24 pt Optima with a 12 pt byline, a typeface designed by Hermann Zapf and issued by the Stempel foundry in 1958. The illustration is a Victorian-era commercial cut.

A brown mousey loved a swine: A Scottish folk rhyme set in 18 pt. Verona, with a 12 pt footnote and 14 pt italic to finish. The illustrations are original wood engravings by Sybella Stiles.

The Rainbow Workshops: The main text is set in Jan Van Krimpen’s Lutetia from Harold Berliner’s Type Foundry. The display face is 42 pt. Festival which was originally designed for the Festival of Britain in 1951. The patterned paper was designed by Margaret Calkin James and printed by the Curwen Press.

Some of Joe Crow’s Rules for Poker and Life: The text, set in Weiss 24 pt Italic and 18 pt and 12 pt roman, is from Bad Beat by Pete Hautman, originally published in a letterpress edition by Gaylord Schanilec at his Midnight Paper Sales press. The illustrations are woodcuts by Simon Wintle, following 17th-century models.

Mr. Peachum SIngs: The text from John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera is set in 24 pt. Bodoni, with Ultra Bodoni for the titling. The illustration of Captain MacHeath was originally drawn by Claud Lovat Fraser in 1921 and is reproduced here with pochoir coloring.

Epitaph: Lord Byron’s Epitaph for Lord Castlereagh is in Monotype Bodoni. The illustration is enlarged from one of Thomas Bewick’s tailpiece wood engravings and is printed from a zinc block.

Our copy of Forty Sheets to the Wind is a gift from our friend Jerry Buff.

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